Giro D’Italia: Arnaud Demare registers stunning win in Stage 6

Matera (Italy), Oct 9 (IANS) If his first win was by a matter of millimetres, Arnaud Demare doubled up by a country mile in Matera. Two days after he beat Peter Sagan in a photo finish on the Giro d’Italia, the French champion left the Slovakian for dead before holding off his nearest challenger, the Australian Michael Matthews, by two bike lengths in a thrilling conclusion to Stage 6 in the ongoing Giro D’Italia.A steep ramp in the final couple of kilometres saw Groupama-FDJ’s Demare drift back and seemingly out of contention, but the 29-year-old fought back before propelling himself out of the final bend to surge past all his rivals to secure his 12th win of a stellar season on Thursday.It was a finish that was not thought to suit pure sprinters like Demare, with the likes of Elia Viviani (Cofidis) and Fernando Gaviria (UAE-Team Emirates) among those tailed off as the road hit a double-digit gradient on the outskirts of the UNESCO World Heritage City.But Demare’s form, positioning and belief ensured that his credentials as the sport’s fastest man on two wheels remained intact – and supplied yet more evidence of the folly committed by his team to omit him from their Tour de France squad earlier this autumn.Team Sunweb’s Matthews took a distant second place ahead of the Italian Fabio Felline (Astana), with Colombia’s Juan Sebastian Molano (UAE-Team Emirates) and Italy’s Davide Cimolai (Israel Start-Up Nation) completing the top five.The Stage 7 will take place from Matera to Brindisi and will be broadcast on Eurosport network .–IANSaak/